Former MK Michael Ben-Ari took video footage of the Arab nationalist event held in the Galilee on Israel's Independence Day and castigated police for allowing it.

"They demand 'the lands' but in fact, they want to slaughter us, like they slaughtered Shelly Dadon Hy”d,” he wrote on Facebook.

The participants in the provocation are "citizens of Israel, doctors, university lecturers, court employees, business owners,” he noted, yet “they raise the flag of a terror organization.”

The hundreds of Arabs who showed up for the march were far fewer than the 10,000 that the organizers hoped for. They marched around picnic areas, shouting anti-Israel slogans and holding signs expressing their feelings. The anti-Israel groups were granted a police permit for the protest, despite the harsh objections by local officials, who feared that a confrontation would develop that would mar Independence Day festivities.

In the end, though, Independence Day went off without a hitch – thanks in large part to the thousands of Israelis who chose not to be intimidated by the anti-Israel marchers, said Einat Ben-Nun of the Hashomer Hachadash group. Speaking to Arutz Sheva, she said that the group “wants to restore the courage of Israelis. It is unthinkable that Israelis would be afraid to celebrate Independence Day in the heart of the country.”

Opposite the Palestinian flags that protesters flew, the group ensured that there were many Israeli flags, she said. “We did not challenge or taunt them, we stayed away from them, but as they flew their flag, we flew ours. We will not let them discourage us,” she added.